November 13, 2019
Māori cancer death rate a disgrace
A Māori health leader says the death rates for Māori women from cancer is a national disgrace.
Lady Tureiti Moxon from Hamilton’s Te Kōhau Health was a parliamernt today supporting the Centre for Women’s Health Research submission to the Māori Affairs committee’s inquiry into health inequities.
Cancer is a huge killer of Māori people, particularly cervical cancer, and Māori women with the disease are three times more likely to doe of it than non-Māori.
She says racism plays a part, with Maori turning up to GP appointments at the same rate as non-Māori but not getting the same number of diagnostic tests, effective treatment plans or referral to third party specialists.
“Part of that is we have a system in this country that actually prevents them from doing that, which means you have to pay to have a scan or to have an x-ray or anything else and you have to pay for medication as well. Yes it’s subsidised, but it’s still a lot of money when you have got very little,” Lady Moxon says.
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